Alice's wonderland

I went on a bit of a meringue frenzy this holiday season, the reason being that I had received a gift copy of  the fabulous Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy: Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich. (And has there ever been a better title for a cookie cookbook in the history of the English language than Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy?)

Ms. Medrich is best known as a chocolate guru, the high priestess of all things high in cocoa fat, the mistress of Cocolat, Berkeley's late great temple to chocolate. I therefore knew that I'd be in good hands as I happily wallowed in her darkest chocolately recipes, and I also was well aware from another of her cookbooks, Pure Dessert, that I was in for a good time even if chocolate wasn't involved. 

(Note to those who love ice cream: try the Sour Cream Ice Cream in Pure Dessert. It's so good that I kept sampling it every two minutes from the time that I mixed it up until it finally froze. As far as I'm concerned, it has set a new bar for ice cream. [There's a pun hidden in there somewhere for those of you playing at home.])

Unbaked meringues

Anyway, back to Chewy Gooey. In addition to those two varieties of cookies, there are also separate chapters for Crispy, Crunchy, Chunky, Flaky, and Melt-in-Your-Mouth delights. One thing that I really appreciated about this book was that weight measures are given in addition to cups and ounces. Baking is such a delicate chemical balance that these little details truly make the recipes idiot-proof, and I like anything that helps ensure success. Ms. Medrich is also a very entertaining writer, so a happy afternoon can be easily whiled away while nibbling on both her prose and her cookies.  

Of all her countless variations on cookies, what drew me to the meringues, I think, were the photographs. Ribbons of coconut waving in the air, chunks of chocolate and hazelnuts snuggling in the egg whites... they seemed like innocent clouds and a nice break from all the insanely delicious buttery stuff I'd been making and munching on over most of December. My liver would thank me, I firmly assured myself, as I made tray after tray of what turned out to be the best meringues I've ever sampled.

Here, then, are three of my favorites from this book. Reprinted with the kind permission of Ms. Medrich and her publisher (Artisan), exactly as they appear in Chewy Gooey.

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New classic coconut macaroons 2.0

Makes twenty-two 2 1/4-inch cookies

4 large egg whites
3 1/2 cups (5.25 ounces) unsweetened dried flaked (not shredded) coconut, also called coconut chips, or 3 cups (9 ounces) sweetened dried shredded coconut
3/4 cup (5.25 ounces) sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Slightly rounded 1/4 teaspoon salt

Cookie sheets, lined with parchment paper

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a large heatproof mixing bowl, preferably stainless steel because the mixture will heat faster than in glass. Set the bowl directly in a wide skillet of barely simmering water and stir the mixture with a silicone spatula, scraping the bottom to prevent burning, until the mixture is very hot to the touch and the egg whites have thickened slightly and turned from translucent to opaque, 5 to 7 minutes. Set the batter aside for 30 minutes to let the coconut absorb more of the goop.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.

2. Using 2 tablespoons of batter, make attractive heaps 2 inches apart on the lined cookie sheets. Bake for about 5 minutes, just until the coconut tips begin to color, rotating the pans from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking. Lower the temperature to 325 degrees F and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the cookies are a beautiful cream and gold with deeper brown edges, and again rotating the pans from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through the baking time. If the coconut tips are browning too fast, you can lower the heat to 300 degrees F. Set the pans or just the liners on racks to cook. Let cool completely before gently peeling the parchment away from each cookie. The cookies are best on the day they are baked - the exterior is crisp and chewy and the interior soft and moist. Although the crispy edges will soften, the cookies remain delicious stored in an airtight container for 4 to 5 days. 

With lime & cinnamon

The variation, or what she calls an "upgrade," that I used was titled Coconut Macaroons with Lime Zest and Cinnamon: Stir 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons freshly grated lime zest into the batter before scooping. Using a fine grater or Microplane zester, grate a little cinnamon stick over the cookies just before serving.  (A photograph of this variation is on the left here. Look at the vibrant bits of lime nestled in among the coconut and meringue. What a sublime tropical combination!)

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The  second recipe is called Chunky Hazelnut Meringues. Like the author says, these are "light, sweet, and tenderly crunchy cookies with hidden pockets of dark chocolate and toasty nuts."

Chunky hazelnut meringues

Makes 36 to 40 cookies

5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped, or 1 scant cup chocolate chunks or chips

1 cups (5 ounces) toasted and skinned hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
2/3 cup (4.625 ounces) sugar
Cinnamon stick (optional)

Cookie sheets, lined with parchment paper

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.

2. Set aside about one-fifth of the chocolate and the nuts for topping the cookies.

Lighter than air

3. Combine the egg whites and cream of tartar in a clean dry mixer bowl. Beat at medium-high speed with a heavy-duty stand mixer (or high speed with a hand-held mixer) until the egg whites are creamy white (instead of translucent) and hold a soft shape when the beaters are lifted. Continue to beat on medium-high speed, adding the sugar a little at a time, taking 1 1/2 to 2 minutes in all. The mixture should stand in very stiff peaks when the beaters are lifted. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the chocolate and nuts just until incorporated. 

4. Drop heaping teaspoons of meringue 1 1/2 inches apart on the lined cookie sheet. Top each meringue with some of the reserved chocolate and nuts. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the meringues begin to turn golden. Rotate the pans from top to bottom and from front to back. Turn the oven down to 200 degrees F and bake for another 1 1/2 hours. Turn off the oven and leave the meringues in it to cool. Let the cookies cool completely before using or storing. If desired, grate a little of the cinnamon stick over each cookie before serving. May be kept in an airtight container for at least 2 months.

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This last cookie is a variation on the Chunky Hazelnut Meringues. The star of the show is the huge handful of salted roasted nuts that make this a lot more savory and quite a bit less sweet than the other two meringues we've looked at. 

As Ms. Medrich advises, "The nuts are salty here, and there are twice as many of them, all left in pretty big pieces, with just enough sweet meringue to hold them together. With or without the chocolate, these could change your mind about meringues in general. Meanwhile, even if your politics are all dark chocolate, you won't want to miss a little rich milk chocolate with those salty nuts. Really."

Sweet and salty nut meringues

Makes 36 to 40 cookies

Omit the chocolate or not. Or use milk chocolate instead of dark. Substitute 2 cups (10 ounces) roasted salted mixed nuts, very coarsely chopped, for the hazelnuts.

Diva of the Cucina: Diana Kennedy

It's difficult to think of a greater honor than watching culinary idols enjoy my food. But that's what happened last week at our house. There they were, women I've adored for ages, all standing around, noshing on Chinese food and talking to the center of attraction, Mexican cooking authority Diana Kennedy. 

DK was in town on a book tour for her new and fabulous survey of the food in just one gorgeous area of southern Mexico, and the result -- Oaxaca al Gusto -- is breathtaking, beguiling the reader with not only mouth-watering foods but lovely photos that include many by the author herself.

But I'm getting ahead of myself here. There's a story behind the party, one that needs telling, because how in the world did I find myself with great cooking mavens crowded in my kitchen?

Frankie, Alice, Linda & DK

This all began about two months ago when I was interviewing DK for my upcoming book, Culinary Goddesses. As we chatted away, we started talking about one of my favorite DK books, Nothing Fancy, which is a selection of some of her favorite, non-Mexican recipes.

Now, I've built up quite a bit of a name for myself among my friends over the years for the elderflower champagne I make every year. And I told DK that, which surprised her. "You're the only person I've ever met who's actually made my champagne," she told me.

So I said, "When was the last time you had some?" To which she answered, "Ages." And that led to an invitation to our house for a glass of bubbly, and then I thought, well why not invite some other foodies? And all I had to do was drop DK's name to get a bevy of lovely ladies (and one gent) to stop by.

Eleanor, Jerry, Alice, Linda, 
me, Tom, Dona, 
DK, Flo, & Betsy

I am nothing if not enthusiastic. So I went ahead and wrote or called to some of the people I've adored from afar, as well as some friends of friends who turned out to be every bit as charming as the famous names.

The roster? Flo Braker, Alice Medrich, Sunset's food editor for decades Jerry Di Vecchio, former Sunset food writer (and new cookbook author) Linda Lau Anusasananan, Dona Tomas restaurant's Dona Savitsky and Thomas Schnatz, chef Jessica Boncutter, My Mexico Tours's Betsy McNair, food publicist Eleanor Bertino, designer Ani Albers, and baking expert Frankie Whitman. A couple greats sent their regrets at the last minute - including Carol Field, Marlena Spieler, and Bruce Aidells -- but that only lowered my terror a few notches.

What to prepare for people who've eaten just about everything the world has to offer? That was the question that plagued me for days and days. 

Ani & Jessica

And then I realized that they had probably never had real Chinese food, the stuff that I came to love when I lived in Taiwan and that for some strange reason hasn't made it to our shores. Ah happiness at last. Now I know the general location that the food is to come from - China - but where in China? 

I mean, Sichuan alone is as big as France, so what to do, what to do. How do I show the incredibly huge variety of cuisines that China has to offer? And how do I balance everything so that there's a nod to all the different ways of cooking as well as ingredients and locations? Crunch has to be followed by the pillowy soft, the piquant and the subtle contrasting with the rich, meats balanced with vegetables, ribbons of starch winding through the dishes, and savory bouncing up against the sweet. 

One thing I knew for sure was that there had to be tamales... Chinese tamales, that is. It was a bit of a joke in honor of Sra. Kennedy, but I hoped a welcome one. The savory ones would be in the style of my father-in-law's Hakka relatives, and the sweet ones would be filled with date paste and pine nuts as they're done in Jiangsu. 

Fortunately for my own sanity and that of my long-suffering husband, I quickly understood that there was no way this could be done as a sit-down dinner; everything had to be out there as a buffet. And so I divided it into a battery of cold foods to start that would allow people to graze and chat, and when everybody's appetites were more or less piqued, out would come the hot dishes. And this was the result:

Menu

Assorted candied nuts & pickles – various provinces

Drunken chicken in red wine lees – Fujian

Preserved eggs with aged garlic vinegar –

nouvelle Shaanxi

Smoked quail eggs – Jiangsu

Braised beef shin & heart – Beijing Muslim

Fried scallion bread – Shandong

Chinese savory tamales – Hakka

Magistrate’s chicken – Guangdong

Wuxi ribs with stir-fried spinach – Jiangsu

Fried prawns with candied walnuts – Hong Kong

Boneless pork hock braised in red soy cheese

with flash-fried pea sprouts – Shanghai

Dongpo pork – Jiangsu

Steamed lotus buns - Beijing

Snap peas with XO sauce – Hong Kong

Assorted cookies – Shanghai

Date walnut chews – Beijing

Sweet jujube & pine nut tamales – Jiangsu

Elderflower champagne à la Kennedy

Once I had the menu nailed down, I still had three weeks to go, and the planning required an attention  to detail that I associate more with little things like D-Day than with a luncheon. It went something like this: 

Shop for the ingredients for one of the entrees, such as Dongpo Pork. Make three batches of the pork (see the recipe in the next blog entry) and figure out which one's not only the best, but find out ways to make it better without devouring the results, and freeze the results so that I'm no longer tempted to sample. Multiply this by every single item on the menu.

Clean the garden, trim plants, sweep driveway, wash the pets, clean the house to a fare-thee-well, buy new dinnerware, repaint the downstairs, buy new pots and pans, get new glassware, find something presentable to wear. Somewhere along the way I realized that the stove was giving out and the landlord wasn't going to be buying a new one in time, so I got a magnetic invection burner (Tatung brand from Taiwan - highly recommended) to help me avoid a nervous breakdown. Oh, did I mention that I was on a strict diet?

But do you want to know what made all of this worthwhile? The great DK spent most of the afternoon talking with me as I cooked, and she ended up liking everything, including my walnut shrimp!